Infy needs to reboot city plans

HYDERABAD: In an anticlimax of sorts, IT bellwether Infosys appears to have developed cold feet about its second campus in Hyderabad. All this after being allotted 435 acres in Pocharam — close to the Singapore township — at a subsidised rate of Rs 12 lakh for an acre. AP government officials confirmed that the Bangalore-based company had done nothing to take forward their plan to locate two special economic zones (SEZs) on this land after getting the land this year.
"Infosys sought approvals for setting up two special economic zones by splitting the land allotted to it into two parts.The SEZs were formally approved by the Board of Approvals (BoA) in August this year. But thereafter there is silence from Iofsys," a senior state government official told TOI. But Inofsys’ director Mohandas Pai said that his company was still interested in Hyderabad.
However, officials revealed that the company has not pursued the next step of getting the SEZs notified, which happens only after it submits certain key documents. According to SEZ norms, once a company decides to set up an SEZ it has to apply to the Board of Approvals for an in-principle approval and subsequently provide all necessary documents related to the ownership of land to get the SEZ formally notified.
"They (Infosys officials) are not to be seen these days. We are not in touch with them. We don’t know what is stopping them from submitting the documents," the official said.
Pai, however, maintained that his company would very soon take the next step.
The AP government had gone out of way to give land to Infosys as it believed that the company’s second campus would add to the stature of Hyderabad as an IT investment destination. The company was initially allotted 500 acres at Mamidipally near the upcoming international airport. But a part of the earmarked land was found to be involved in litigations. It was after this that the land at Pocharam was allocated to Infosys.